Successful leaders embrace both/and. Do we pursue growth and create systems as we go or is it the other way around? YES! Wise leadership leverages both.

Breaking points:

Either/or choices occur when Carl refuses to support Mary. On the other hand, as long as Mary respects and supports Carl’s values she enrich their organization. However, when they don’t value the other’s values, one has to go.

Never make the mistake of cutting people off because their values don’t fully align with yours. Successful leaders get excited about things that excite others.

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13 thoughts on “The Struggle and Power of Divergent Values”

It is true that full agreement or alignment is not possible.People have different values, belief and opinions. so, difference are bound to be. But leaders make agreement in difference on some dimensions on common interest.I agree that full agreement is not possible. And I also agree that if there is full agreement, it is actually not full agreement, rather false agreement. And this happens when either people fear to question, unsecured or leader is incompetent.
I strongly believe that Dissent creates values, agreement distracts values. And that is why any organizations should seek more than 60 percent agreement. This is enough to make good alignment but this agreement should be based on openness, fearlessness and willingness. Any pressure or influence should not be there.
Two things plays very critical role in aligning values and mission. Leadership ability and system limitation. One should see how much leaders are capable and how much support they can get from the system. And if you compare between these two, later plays the major in determining values match or mismatch in the organizations.

Dan, I think the best way that leaders can navigate diversity in values is by hearing ideas out along with the pros and cons of each. Even though I might hold strongly to a value, I should be broad minded and broad sighted enough to see the downside.

I think diversity becomes a distraction when people hold on to, focus on and take ownership only of the differences. They get settled into the differences rather than seeking common ground. The other issue is when they place a higher value on being diverse rather than the good of the organization. They lose sight of the fact that if the organization does not succeed, neither do they.

I agree with Martina’s comment that diversity tends to divide only when we focus on the differences, not the value added by different perspectives.
It really comes down to whether ‘Mary’ & ‘Carl’ can set their egocentric thinking aside and begin to create the hybrid of systemic growth.

Yes, if we can get our egos out of the way and focus on the goal or mission, everyone should win. And, I like that phrase, systemic growth. It encompasses both paths in the effort to move the organization forward.

Dan, you’re playing in my sandbox today. While values are complex, they’re critical to define – and align – if leaders want to build a successful organization.

But there’s a difference between fundamental (core) values and differentiating values. The latter creates competitive advantage.

As A.G. Lafley writes in his book The Game Changer, innovation was the differentiating value at P&G, at least while he was CEO. It’s the engine that generated their remarkable growth.

At Cold Stone Creamery, teamwork is clearly the differentiating value (ever witnessed employees having so much fun?). They’ve even defined each word of their mission “We will make people happy” as values.

For organizations that define their differentiating values, there can be no partial alignment. To generate momentum and lasting success, everyone must fully embrace these – or get off the train.

The leaders job is to define, clarify and enforce differentiating values.

As Roy Disney stated: “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”

Howdy Dan,
Great post,i.e. gets people talking. My experience says Robert is correct. Lest we forget though that the devel is in the details- it is in that “clarify and enforce differentiating values” that leaders get stuck and have to rely on process of leadership- listening, asking questions, listening again- ala the “pros and cons… of differences” or the process that Martina and Ajay mention, where the hard work of dialogue and participation (committment-ownership) get accomplished.

This is a topic that goes back to the way we were raised and our education. I would think that in order to work with both the system and the growth values (divergent) we need to go back to work with the common values (diversity) In the end there is only one objective and that should be what guides the organization. It is a good exercise for a leader to showcase and obtain feedback from. Relevant and tackles on conflict in the light of innovation.

Fabulous post. Successful leaders nurture and encourage others. They are curious about what makes others tick. If more people respect each other’s values, then a mutuality can be formed. What a fantastic world that would be.

Divergent values are terrific for pushing innovation, as long as the divergence does not derail goals. All of the folks in the organization really need to be focused on achieving the stated outcomes, or they should be focused on new outcomes–divergence won’t help in this.

Dan, good job putting this so succinctly. There’s a great book on this called Competing Values Leadership by Cameron, Quinn, Degraff, and Thakor. In fact, this model is so good that it’s been able to predict the future value of a company about 85% of the time.